I'm Just a Girl
by JewelzVee
Summary: A retelling of Miss Remy LeBeau's life starting in New Orleans to how she meets and eventually joins the X-Men. AU Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Ok so here is my Gambit as a girl fic! Please review!

Remy Lebeau, master thief, ran through the swaps that surrounded the Lebeau estate. Remy never thought that the day of her own wedding would end up like this. Running as fast as she could in a snow white gown through the marsh, running for her life. Remy realized that she must have looked ridiculous, her make up and hair was probably a horrible mess, but she didn't dare to slow. She knew if she was caught they would make her marry the most despicable man she had ever met, Julian, older brother of her best friend Belladonna. She and Bella grew up together, playing in the river, going shopping, acting like spoiled daddy's girls. It didn't matter to either of them that they came from rival guilds. Bella was the daughter of the Leader of the Assassins Guild while Remy was the beloved adoptive daughter of Jean-Luc Lebeau, Leader of the Thieves Guild.

Remy made a sharp turn to the right as she cursed her luck. "This is just great! Why me?" She could feel them gaining on her, those filthy assassins. She knew no thief would try to stop her escape. Everyone hated Julian, even most of the assassins. Remy absolutely despised Julian, her would be future husband if she couldn't escape New Orleans fast enough. The moment Julian had come back to New Orleans from his boarding school and met Remy for the first time, he demanded of his father that they would be married. For years he knew his father was trying to end the fighting between the two guilds and unite them, and this was the perfect match. Jean-Luc had agreed to it before he asked his only daughter, excited at the idea of peace in New Orleans.

Now that her father knew it was too late, he aided in her escape. Bella had told her when there would be a guard change and she took the opportunity to run. "Marry that pig, ha! Not a chance." She had made contact with a friend of a friend who owed her a favor and she was able to hop into a car with New York license plates and bolt. Remy drove for three hours until she pulled into a deserted rest stop to change out of her gown. After pulling on a pair of tight jeans, a tank top and a pair of black stilettos she checked her hair and make up. Her hair had come undone from its elegant up do, her make up was smeared horribly. She ripped a part of her dress off and wet it under the sink, wiping her face of the heavy make up. She pulled all the pins and let her long auburn hair fall around her upper back.

Walking out of the bathroom she threw the wedding dress into the trash bin, and went into the store to purchase some snack foods. "Runnin' from your own weddin' can make a girl hungry." She pulled on her shades to cover her noticeably different eye color, red on black always seems to stand out. She grabbed a can of soda and a couple of bottles of water, a bag of chips, a few chocolate bars and a pack or two of gum. She pulled cash out a hundred dollar bill and gave it to the clerk, "You didn't see me, oui cherie?" The young man nodded as she left him stunned.

~Six months later…

Remy picked the lock at her latest job. Luckily she was trained by the best of the best or else she would have been found by Julian just as fast as she had gotten away. She had been on the run now for six long months, going from state to state and even for one month traveling all over Europe. 'I can't believe he is this nuts! My God what a fool!' Her closest call had been in San Francisco, she was living there for only seven weeks before she suspected Julian had staked out her apartment. It really was too bad she liked working in the small coffee shop a few blocks away from the Mission district. At least she learned how to make a mean cup of coffee. Plus the tips were great, those city people loved her thick accent and southern belle charm.

Quietly she walked into the office and started to go through the different cabinets. Most of the papers seemed normal, until she got to the false bottom of the last drawer and she hit the mother load. Sighing she searched through the files- all about mutant research. She shook her head as she looked at pictures of young mutants being experimented on. She knew which way to float this information to so this would be stopped. What kind of sick person would be doing this? She continued to pull files and papers out, digging deeper. Most of the papers were reports, she didn't have too much time, Remy never liked to hang out at any place she steals from.

She just wanted to make sure she got enough information to send to her employer. This man had recently approached her about finding people who experiment on mutants, he was sure he and his people could shut the monsters down for good. He had agreed to pay her a large amount of money, including lodging and a small food allowance while she researched appropriate ways to gather the information. She had already passed on some information about a sick pervert in up state Florida who purchased visibly noticeable female mutants to lease out to his clients for fun. It wasn't long after her employer got the information that the sick pimp was sent to jail for human trafficking.

Recently Remy had started working in the office as a temp, finding out where the weakness in security was, and when she had enough information she made her move. Her current "employer" was just a backer on this mutilation, He gave the sick scientist money for all this cruelty. Surprisingly there was information on the man conducting the experiments. It wasn't truly part of any file that had been sent to him, it seems this backer had done some research on the man. The ring leader was-

"Bon jour ma cherie!" Julian sat in the opened window of the office. "I've missed you." He smiled widely, almost too happy, and opened his arms wide. "I knew that kind heart of yours would lead you here eventually. You do love your fellow freaks." She hated to admit it but Julian looked just as dashing as ever, his golden blond hair tied back to the nape of his neck, his ice blue eyes bared hard into her, his muscular body seemed to make the window shrink back in fear. If he wasn't such a nut job it might have worked out between them… but now wasn't the time to think of the past. It made sense that Julian would do research on the man he was giving money to, he defiantly had some trust issues.

Remy knew she didn't have much time to escape, she picked up the files, never breaking eye contact and stuffed them into her bag. She could feel some movement behind the closed office door. Julian had brought some friends. The door was locked and the only other way out of the office was the window. "So what Julian, you kept tabs on a research company hoping that I would show up?"

Julian smiled at her, "Non Cher, this is my office. You came to me. Pretty ridiculous of you but like I said before, I knew this would peak your interest and you would come running to help."

"You are financing this evil research? You are enabling a person to lock up women and children and pump them full of chemicals and cut them up! What reason could you possibly have to do this?" Remy knew she had to control her anger and find a way out of this, she may appear cornered in this small room, but she knew she still had the advantage. Julian would stop her before she could get to the window, the assassin is fast- almost as fast as her. With these closed quarters she couldn't take the chance of him pinning her. Her other option had at least three men standing on the other side of the door- but she could surprise them.

"My reasons are my own, woman! You will not raise your voice to me! You will come home this instant and take your place at my side!" Julian advanced a few steps to Remy which she countered by moving to the opposite side of the desk.

"You know I will never go to you willingly. I hate you so very much." Remy knew this was a long shot but she had to get him blinded by his anger. He was cunning but pretty stupid when it came to control.

"I own you! Your own father signed the papers for our marriage. You are mine! And don't act like you don't want me, that's why you were always hanging around my sister. You just wanted to get close to me!"

Remy was slightly surprised by his thoughts, he couldn't really believe that, right? "Hell non, the day you came back from France was the worst day of my life, I can't stand you."

"You are mine! Why do you feel the need to act like this, cherie? We used to have so much fun together." He was buying his time, Remy could feel it. She needed him to feel secure, to feel he could win.

"I could never enjoy your company, Julian. I will never be your wife. You will never control me, I will kill myself before I let you touch me."

Julian screamed out his rage and pushed the desk towards her. There was approximately 18 inches between Julian and the window, and 45 inches between her and Julian. The door was 52 inches from where she was standing and 62 inches from Julian. Julian was leaning to his right which means he would try to fake her thinking he would go left, but really cut right. It would be a tight fit but….

As the door to the office was kicked in Remy grabbed a large paper weight and charged it quickly-throwing it at the men coming in. She dove down and rolled behind the other side of the desk. She then charged the large leather chair and sprang to the window. Julian was stunned but quickly recovered and grabbed at her bag, ripping it open, some papers began to tumble out to the floor. Remy was almost hanging out the window, one leg already out as Julian clutched her upper arm hard enough to leave bruises. Remy gripped tightly onto the bag with one hand, and Julian's shirt with the other. She charged it. The heat rolling off his turtle neck was enough to make him halt. Remy and Julian's eyes met.

"Let me go, Julian." His face flashed with such anger, something she was almost all too familiar with, then as quickly as it came, it was gone.

"Ah Biento, Ma Cherie." Julian kissed her fast and hard. Shocked Remy called back the charge to her body and pushed herself out the window- landing gracefully two stories below. As she pushed herself up off the dirt she realized why Julian had given up. A large plane had silently landed and about six people were lining up, ready for a fight. She looked up the window to see it empty.

"Mon Dui! It just keeps coming! Can't I have one night off?" Her red on black eyes blazed with her anger, she knew that Julian was already gone from the office, probably the building, and she was left to deal with this turn of events.

"What is your business here?" A man called to her, he was obviously the leader. He was a tall handsome man, red hair, and a funny pair of glasses covering his eyes. Remy looked around at the other people on his team. A woman with dark skin and white hair, a man covered in blue fur, another woman with dark red hair, a young boy who looked like he had no business being here, and a short angry looking man with wild facial hair.

"More than you have. I work here- well worked here. If you don't leave now I will call the police and have you charged with trespassing. Good day!" Remy knew the bluff would only distract them as she shifted the files to a more secure position on her person. The short angry one growled at Remy and countered her side step.

"We have reason to believe the man running this office may have a connection to an under ground mutant testing ring. Would you know anything about it?" the woman with the white hair asked. Her face and tone of voice were soft but Remy could feel her confidence rolling off of her in waves, she was powerful and she knew it.

Remy pursed her lips and stepped to the side slowly, the team watched her warily, but only one reacted. Not surprised when it was the short angry one.

"Where do you think you're going?" He stepped to her- no one made a move to stop him. Remy watched him warily, wondering how this would turn out. "We have questions and you have the answers. So you better get pretty darn comfortable standing there and talking to us."

Remy narrowed her eyes- sizing up the group of mutants, she suspected, in front of her. "Is he always like this? Or am I just lucky?" The crazy angry one was about 4 feet away from her and she could feel him winding his legs up to pounce on her. The rest of the team varied from 6 to 9 feet away. Her eyes darted from side to side looking for the best way out.

The young boy, with a cocky smile replied to her joke, "No, you're not special." Remy smirked at him.

"I'm not telling you anything, I have an important delivery to make, if ya'll wanted to know about what they do here, do your own damn research." Remy's mind was in over drive, she was calculating which way she could run, how long it would take her to get to her car and be on the way from these loons. The only problem was that she didn't know what powers they had, if any, and how far they would be willing to take it. The moment hung in the air as she felt something, really someone, push against her mental shields. Grabbing a handful of playing cards she charged them and looked at the red head.

"Stay the hell out of my mind, Red, unless you want your face rearranged!" She backed herself into a corner, almost. The woman looked at her in utter shock, and she exchanged glances with the man in the funny head gear.

"If you will excuse me," the blue man began, "we mean you no harm. We were on our way here to find any and all information we can about the illegal medical testing being conducted on mutants. All we want to do is help those poor people who are being ill treated. If you have any information on them or their whereabouts I implore you to relinquish your knowledge to us."

"She's going to run, can't I just take her down now and save ourselves the damn chase?" The little man twitched anxiously back and forth between his right and left side.

"We do not know that for sure, Wolverine." The white haired woman replied to her comrade. At that moment Remy threw the cards blasting a hole into the wall closest to her. Most of the opposing team fell to the ground with the shock.

"You should have listened to him!" Remy yelled as she bound through the large hole, knowing the crazy little one was right one her tail. Remy sent the charge to her feet and through her boots as she charged the individual tiles behind her, causing them to act as landmines to her pursuers. As she ran her breath started to show in front of her face, when did it get so damn cold? When she took a right turn to the front entrance, an ice wall started to form in front of her.

"Merde!" she kicked off the wall and propelled herself down the other side of the hall. Fog started to seep into the building, so thick she could barley see her own hand in front of her face. Luckily she was familiar with the building and she could feel the other people around her. The beast like man was coming at her quickly, she turned and slid down a hall. She pressed the emergency close button and the door sealed shut behind her. Remy was in the storage room of the warehouse. Hopefully the heavy metal door would be enough to keep the team out as she thought of a plausible escape route. It was a large room, the offices that she had worked at the past two weeks was a medical supply and shipping company. The room had rows and rows of scaffolding shelves, almost as tall as the two story room.

The sound of metal ripping against metal echoed through the warehouse, her best bet was to hide. She scaled the wall of a storage unit and started hopping from one to the other until she buried herself between two boxes on a high shelf.

"Did you see which way she went?" The leaders voice echoed from the other side of the room. Remy looked around quietly, 5 shelving's away was a window large enough for her to fit through if she could just get there.

"I smell her, she went this way." Remy's head quickly turned to the short man. Smelt her? She showered this morning! He and the rest of the team came up to the isle she had climbed up. "She went up, look for her up there Beast."

"Affirmative." He started to climb with such ease Remy started to regret her idea, and the red head and the white haired chick also floated up.

"Honestly, we mean you no harm, we just want to know what you know about the research." It was the leader again, he seemed to be the most rational of the group. The Beast was starting to close in on her location, she could jump down and risk a hand to hand, or she could make a break for the window.

She silently and quickly got up and jumped to the next isle, "There she is!" The young boy pointed and then turned himself into ice. He started to freeze a path higher and higher to the ceiling. She went even faster, jumping to the next one, two more isles to go… the scaffolding all of a sudden started to shake violently underneath her, it tipped to the side, she went to jump for the next one, but her footing wasn't as sure.

She started to topple to the ground, hitting the bottom of the over turned isle half way down, Remy tried to turn her body to catch herself with her legs but the ground rushed to quickly towards her and she landed painfully on the concert floor. She knew her arm wouldn't work right for a while, it was dislocated.

"Damnit Jean!" the angry one yelled as Remy moved slowly into a sitting position, her arm dangling awkwardly at her side.

"I'm sorry! I only meant to shake it a little, I didn't think it would fall over like that. Oh my God, are you alright?" Jean asked Remy, guilt was written all over her face.

"Please allow me to assist you…" The blue beast carefully came to her side but her eyes flashed with an unearthly pink color.

"Back off blue balls." Remy growled as she felt something wet tickle down the side of her face from her hairline. Her head was starting to swim. The whole team was now surrounding her, Remy's back was pushed against the shelving as she put her glove into her mouth. Biting down on it hard she forced her shoulder into place with a sickening pop. The team heard what they assumed was a muffled profanity as her breathing finally evened out. "Fuck, just take it!" Remy threw her sack at the leader and put her head against the support behind her… she just wanted to rest her eyes.

Ok! Let me know what you guys think! Please review


	2. Chapter 2

When Remy woke next she was in a soft bed with clean white sheets. She listened carefully for a few long moments and felt secure enough to open her eyes. Looking around slowly she assessed that she was in a small medical facility, not as elaborate as a hospital. Silently getting out of bed Remy realized she had been changed out of her clothing and in to a pair of lounge pants and a tank top. Beside her bed someone had placed a pair of slip on shoes and a zip up sweatshirt was draped over the foot of the bed. Along with the sweater she found her collapsible bo staff and her deck of cards, Remy smirked- idiots. Picking up these items Remy gingerly put on the sweatshirt, her arm screaming in protest.

Walking out of the room Remy looked up and down the hallway, she could sense no one coming toward her. After deciding it was safe she silently walked down the hall, only pausing when she unhooked any security cameras that might capture her image. When she reached an elevator door Remy sighed almost in relief- almost out of here- wherever here was. She silently crept into the lift and brought it to the ground level, when she got out she was ready for anything. As she emerged Remy kept her eyes and ears open but no one was coming.

Silence. Keeping with the quiet theme Remy crept as a cat would down the hall, she heard some chatter above her head and quickly hid from the noise makers- children. Older, tweens and teens a group of at least six but no more than nine- but why were they here? Remy slid out a side door to the yard she was stunned by the large grounds the mansion had. She could see a baseball diamond, a basketball court, tennis court and a swimming pool. Luckily no one saw her outside even though it was a nice day. Rubbing her sensitive eyes Remy snuck into a large garage.

"Oh la la." muttered Remy as she walked down the rows of cars. Off road vehicles, trucks, a jeep, sports cars- Remy gasped- motorcycles. Remy circled a beautiful Harley and brushed her fingers against it. She smirked at the keys hanging in the ignition these people were crazy. She started to push the bike out to the road, hoping for a silent retreat- shit- movement. And fast at least one from her left and the other sneaking around to her right. "And that's where my luck runs out." Remy hopped on the bike as a man approached her. Her hand found her bo staff in her pocket.

"Wait! Uh…. Miss." She saw he was the man with glasses he had his hands up in a non threatening manner. "Please, don't go. We don't mean you any harm. My name is Scott Summers." Remy watched him as he stopped only a few feet away from her, the red headed woman ran up behind him and also stopped.

"My name is Jean Gray. Please don't leave." Remy looked at them warily as she relaxed slightly.

"I usually don't have tea time with people who attack me." Remy stated calmly.

"Really we don't mean you any harm, I believe the run in we had last night was a big misunderstanding. Can we invite you inside-"

"Logan! Don't!" Scott shouted at the man who ran silently up behind Remy, ready to grab her. Too bad she was already vaulting herself up and over the handle bars, she landed gracefully and extended her bo staff.

"Bring it on, mon ami." Remy bared her teeth at the feral man.

"Logan, calm down." Jean said to the man.

"No one touches my bike but me, got it Cajun." Logan snarled at the young woman in front of him.

Remy smirked and leaned against her staff, "Maybe you shouldn't leave the keys in the ignition then, kind of an open invitation, oui?"

Logan walked up to Remy and got in her face. She was tall enough that she didn't need to look up at him, his brown eyes met her red on black ones. "Lets get this straight right now. You will never have an open invitation to my bike."

Remy scoffed at him, "Boys and their toys huh? No worries, I'll get my own next time, since you ain't good when it comes to sharing."

Logan snorted at her and walked away. Remy curled her lip at his insult, oh hell to the no. "Of course I would go for a 2011 Harley Davidson Iron 883 instead of that older stripped down Street Bob look you got going on, even if it is a 2012."

Logan turned to her, if he was surprised she knew about motorcycles he hid it well. "At least your taste isn't that terrible." Remy smirked at him once more, collapsed her bo staff and turned to Scott and Jean.

"All right so since I'm not going to get cut by the Paul Bunion wanna be then lets go inside and have our tête-à-tête." Scott grinned again and Jean sighed in slight disapproval but didn't say anything as she led the younger woman inside.

Shortly after Remy was introduced to everyone from last night and even more people. Turns out the large mansion was a school for young mutants who need help with their powers or protection from the outside world as well as a top secret base for a super hero team of mutants called the X-Men. Remy had to hold back a laugh when she heard their team name, as well as some of their codenames. Cyclops, Iceman, Rogue, Wolverine- she tried to keep all their names straight.

"So ya'll were just going to that medical supply company to research the same mess I was." Remy sighed at the team of mutants.

"Well now that we are all acquainted with each other," Xavier began, "can we ask you why you were there last night?"

"Sure you can ask." Remy took a long pause and smirked at the uncomfortable silence, "I was hired to sneak into the building and steal some paper work on the mutant research. Unfortunately I was discovered by the owner of the office. I am now sure it was a damn set up." After having reflected on the situation it would be like Julian to be a damn snake in the grass and hire her to set her up. Some how he always underestimates her and she ends up giving him the slip. Idiot.

"So that's who pushed you out of the window last night." Hank McCoy stated.

"Oui." Remy agreed with him. No need to tell them the whole back story between her and her fiancé.

"Why would you be hired to get the paper work from the office?" Bobby Drake asked Remy.

"Well because its my job, Iceman." His blank stare made her sigh. "I am a hired thief."

"No way!" He exclaimed.

"Way." She grinned at him. "Remy LeBeau, or Gambit to my employers, at your service."

"So we got ourselves a swamp rat sneak thief." Logan grunted out.

"Logan! That is rude!" Ororo scolded Wolverine, he was quickly turning out to be Remy's biggest fan.

"Yeah Logan! Its nice having another southern girl around here!" Rogue exclaimed, "I'm getting darn tired of all ya'll yanks!"

Remy chuckled at Rogue, having the south in common was like having an unspoken understanding between the two girls. It meant they were going to eat spicy fried food, without feeling guilt and their accents were probably going to thicken around each other. Remy was sure that the X-Men would just love to hear Rogue talking like she's from the deep south once more.

Jubilee sat near Remy and scooted closer to her, "So, like, how did you end up kicking almost the whole team's butts last night? Bobby said you were super fast! And you made stuff blow up too, right?"

Remy smiled at the girl's energy. "Lets just say I touch something then it go boom."

"Cool!" Jubilee stated- her attention already going off in a different direction. Teenagers.

"Well Gambit, since you are here I was wondering if you wouldn't mind doing a couple jobs for me." Xavier said to Remy after Jubilee and Bobby walked away.

"Professor?" Scott asked slightly shocked.

"Well Scott, I feel that our team could benefit from Ms. LeBeau's skill set." The older man explained.

"It is true. We could use your help in many of our missions, your fighting is very good-" Ororo was cut off by Logan's sharp laugh.

"You mean her running." He snapped.

"Any time you wanna dance, little man, you let me know." Remy said as she nonchalantly shuffled her cards.

"As I was saying-" Xavier shot Logan a disapproving glare, "there is a mission that I feel Remy would be perfect for. My informant is getting the last bit of information right now so I should have the briefing soon if you don't mind staying here for a few days. I can also give your arm a chance to heal."

Remy shuffled her cards a few more times, thinking it over. She could stay here for a little bit longer, wait until the heat from Julian settled down. Maybe plan where she would go next, its pretty easy to disappear in Hawaii, or maybe near Canada. But then again she had to be careful, there were kids here, good people. They don't need her problems lurking in the shadows…

"Ms. LeBeau?" Scott asked after a long pause. "What do you think?"

"Are ya'll really sure about this?"

"Yes." Came Xavier's reply. He looked her straight in the eye.

"Alright then you have yourself a deal, mon prof. Merci for your hospitality."


	3. Chapter 3

Remy was settling into a routine in her new home, temporary home, she told herself. She knew she couldn't be here for too long, for a few reasons. Mostly because Julian would come for her sooner or later, she was sure of that. Remy pulled on a pair of tights, a pair of dance shorts and a fitted tank top then went down the elevator to the bottom level of the mansion. A sigh of relief came from Remy's lips as she stretched her arm and found that the pain was gone. Hopefully, she thought, Julian will not be smart enough to find her in this secluded mansion.

The security was impressive enough, she had gone through it with Scott and Storm, showing them the weaknesses they had, and suggesting new programs and sensors to protect the school.

"Your biggest concern," she had told them, "is the data you have stored of all the mutants and their powers. I am sure that there are people who would pay top dollar for this information." She had placed the order for the new security equipment and it would be coming shortly. In exchange for staying the mansion she had agreed to help install the programs and instruct the team on its features. With all these modifications, and the fact that since she would be working exclusively for Xavier, she knew she could relax and stop looking over her shoulder every five minutes.

Remy entered the Danger Room and spoke a command to the computer. She put down a duffle bag and stepped onto the polished wooden floor the room created for her. She gripped the barre as she dusted the fronts of her pink toe shoes and began her stretching. Her body went into autopilot as she went through the classic warm up. Ballet was something that her pere had insisted she learned as soon as he her in. She looked into the mirror, watching her posture, as she thought of her adopted family with a smile.

"I had to take it too Remy." Herni had said to her when she pouted. Her eyes went as large as saucers and then she began to laugh uncontrollably at the statement. Henri sighed- he was being laughed at by his seven year old adopted sister. Damn ballet.

"Grace, coordination, poise are all things that a thief will need to be able to do, Remy." She wasn't sure she could do ballet, but when Jean-Luc put it like that she could not fight him. "Besides, your mother was a wonderful ballerina." He showed Remy a picture of his wife when she was younger, posing for some ballet program. Her leg was lifted up in a graceful arch, her back straight and her toe perfectly pointed. She defiantly had the body of a ballerina.

Although Remy was slender, she was not built for ballet. Her muscular built and almost contradictory curves really weren't ideal for the art, but she still loved to dance. She had stayed in ballet and other dance classes until she was18 years old. It also helped that dance was the first thing that brought Bella and her together. As a previously selected song came over the speakers Remy began a contemporary choreographed dance. It was one that she and Bella had done together, as she moved she remembered her friend. In her mind she was dancing along side her, together moving in perfect harmony.

They had become instant friends, the day that Remy entered the ballet class and Belladonna was there with a friendly smile and a mean right hook to any girl who picked on the mutant child. Together they had many sleepovers, shopping sprees, and secrets. Even though the two families, and therefore the guilds, could not get along somehow the two girls were best friends the day they both walked into the Miss Mimi's ballet school.

With a sigh and a smile she was back on the stage of her last performance. She could peer into the audience and see her brother, her father, and her tante. Remy and Belle moved together, but they were suddenly ripped apart by two male performers. The dance was a powerful piece, performed with emotion that could not be ignored. Remy went up on her toes, and with perfect lines and danced as if she would never be able to again. She rolled on the floor and was lifted almost effortlessly by her male partner. Almost like a contortionist she maneuvered out of the grip and leaped away.

As she moved a pair of crystal blue eyes watched intently. How she had grown while he was gone. Julian's breath caught in his throat as the raw sexuality of the piece came through, Remy was being dragged across the stage, passed from one man to the other. His own sister was trying to pull Remy from them. Remy's leg went up high and she twisted out of their grip. Bella moved in synch to Remy's struggles, becoming hectic and confused. She mirrored her friend's graceful motions as the desperation of the dancing increased, Remy's leg kicked out to the side and Bella did the same.

Julian lost all track of time as he watched the beautiful red haired woman bare her soul on the stage. At the end of the dance Remy had been murdered by the men, Bella mourned her friend as she watched her from the background. A bright spot light blaring straight down on Remy, highlighting the shape of her body. Julian clapped with the rest of the audience and whispered to his father about Remy. Remy stood in the last pose as the music ended. There she felt it once more, for the first time since that night she felt free. Alive and free.

"Where's your tutu, Gumbo?" Logan's sarcastic voice cut through her almost euphoric state like a hot knife in butter. Here eyes narrowed at the man as he grinned, leaning against the wall. His large cigar stuck out of his mouth, puffing it as Remy went into the splits to stretch her legs.

"What are you doing here, Logan. Thought it was my turn to use the room?" She would not be phased by his attitude she had dealt with worse before. And she had dealt worse before.

"Oh it is your time, bub. I thought we could dance but I didn't think you would take it so literal." He smirked at her as she stripped off her toe shoes.

"Since you put it like that, Wolverine, give me five minutes to change and I will be happy to oblige you." After she had changed from her dance gear and into a fighting body suit she reentered the Danger Room. Logan was already warming by on a punching bag.

"What be the rules, homme?"

"There ain't none except for you don't kill me and I don't kill you." Logan's lips curled up over his sharp canines. "I'll even go easy on you, Cajun."

"Oh please don't do me any favors, chere." Remy wiggled her eye brows at him. Over her tight black cat suit Remy attached a holster for her signature weapons. She extended her bo staff and swung her arm around to warm it up, didn't need it acting up while she was kicking Logan's crazy ass. She assumed a defensive stance and gave the man a come hither look.

Bobby had just come down to check on Remy, he knew she would be in the Danger Room and he wanted to make sure she was alright. She may need a little advice, he convinced himself as he went to the control room, not to mention I could use a second look at that skin tight dance outfit she… His train of thought stopped, Logan was inside fighting with-

"Oh hell yeah!" Bobby exclaimed and like Paul Revere he ran to the upstairs alerting any and all X-Men that Logan and Remy were finally squaring off.

Gambit swung her staff around as Logan tried to punch the place her face was moments ago. With a sickening crack the metal made contact with the back of it's target's head. He stumbled forward a few steps and Remy brought the staff around once more to the front of his feet and tripped him. Wolverine barely had time to catch himself before his face made contact with the floor.

"Still going to go easy on me, Wolvie?" He growled and extended his claws. Gambit giggled at the aggression, "Didn't think so." He charged her and she side stepped quickly jumping again as his claws tried to make contact with her. Using her bo staff to deflect a swing turned out to be a bad idea as the staff had been cut into two pieces. Not missing a beat Remy used the two halves and charged them with her mutant power. She hit Logan's claw again with the staff, this time sending a nasty shock up his arm causing him to retract them with a yell. She tossed one half at him and did a one handed back flip out of the way as it exploded. Logan flew back and as he tried to stand Remy threw the other half at the man.

"Like oh my God! How long had they been down there?" Jubilee asked as she and Bobby ran to the observation tower. The floor shook from the explosion, causing Bobby and Jubilee to lock eyes and grin. Scott, Ororo, Hank, Jean, Rogue and Charles had all come down for the show.

"Ok I say $10.00 on Logan." Bobby stated to the group.

"I will take that bet and say go team Remy." Rogue shook Bobby's hand as the bet was set.

"No way, its all Wolvie!" Jubilee cried as she watched the fight intently. "Look at his face, she got a lucky shot in or something and now he is pissed with a capital p!" The rest of the team watched in silence but that did not mean they weren't making their own silent bets.

"Did I hurt you, Logan? Je sui dessole." Remy smirked as she pulled another bo staff out, quickly extending it.

"Not as sorry as you going to be, girlie." Logan growled as his face pieced itself back together. Logan came at her again, catching the bo staff with his hand he yanked it out of Remy's grip, tossing it across the room. The metal pole slid across the floor and Remy ducked as Logan brought his fist to her. She punched him in the gut but he grabbed her wrist, twisting it. Remy head butted him and immediately regretted the decision, damn he had a hard head. He held her other arm, now she was trapped as he grinned at her. Thinking quickly Remy pressed her lips to his, kissing him passionately. Shocked, Wolverine allowed himself to be swept up in her seduction his grip loosened on her arms. She smiled into his mouth as she broke the kiss only to back flip away from the confused Canadian.

As Logan's shirt exploded Gambit landed next to her staff and began a rapid offence on her opponent. She brought the staff down hard on the back of his neck, then to his stomach and as he slumped over she swept his feet out from under him causing him to land on his back with a thud. When Logan opened his eyes again Remy was standing over him, her metal bo staff glowing with the same power that possessed her eyes.

"Bang- ya dead." Gambit stated to Logan as she recalled the charge and left the room. Like most of the X-Men Bobby's mouth was hanging open as Rogue opened her palm in front of his face.

"Alright, so my informant tells me the most prestigious and sought after trafficker is this man here, Andre Swanstone. He is a multimillionaire earning the bulk of his money from an inheritance. He is single, 47 years old and lives in upstate New Jersey. Though he has been questioned many times he is constantly over looked as a suspect, and anyone who dares to testify against him is usually found dead or goes missing." Xavier gave the team a breakdown of their target in his office. Logan, Ororo, Jean, Hank, Scott, Rogue, and Remy all listened intently.

"How is he selecting as his victims?" Ororo asked.

"Good question, here are a few photos of missing girls, as you can see some have very noticeable mutations while others have more subtle ones." A stack of pictures was being handed out to the team, Remy shifted through them shaking her head. A girl with green hair and pale pink skin, a girl with cat ears and feline like eyes, most of them missing at young ages.

"Well, what are we doing? Smash and grab?" Logan suggested to the team.

"No- these girls may not survive that, we need to gather the information in a more subtle matter." Scott voiced reason to the group and Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Subtle can take a lot of time, Scott! These girls may not have that. I say we bust in there and then send the police after him." Rogue exclaimed.

"Non- all of you are not thinking of the big picture." Remy voiced her opinion.

"Indeed, Remy, what do you suggest?" Hank turned his attention to the girl on his left.

"He is the most sought after trafficker for mutants, oui?"

"Yes."

"Well, if I was running a big business like that I would need to have a lot of contacts. People who work for me on all sorts of levels, kidnappers, pimps, and then of course the clients too would need to be recorded. I say, we infiltrate the place, quietly gather all the information, then when we have what we need we can send in the cavalry."

Xavier nodded at Gambit's statement. "I agree. Remy this is the mission I think we will need you for. We have you sneak in as a victim and when you are inside you collect the information and when you are through the rest of the team will come to help you release the girls being held captive." The X-Men nodded at their founder and they began to discuss their plan.


	4. Chapter 4

Logan gripped Remy's arm tightly, playing the role of a pimp very well, as they followed a man down a long hallway Remy had her wrists bound together, and her eyes covered with a blindfold. She was dressed in a barely there cotton night dress, her feet bare. Remy struggled a little against Logan's hold but to no avail- he had an iron grip. "No please don't do this!" Remy pleaded to Logan as she fought to go back the other direction. "Please don't. Please Mike, please."

Logan shook her hard, "Shut up- and stop fighting if you know what's good for you." He pulled her hard making her stumble a little. The man had led them to the sitting room of a large mansion. It was eloquently decorated room with tasteful furniture and beautiful lighting. Expensive artwork hung from the wall and expensive curtains adorned the windows. The French style double doors were opened and Logan was shown into the room.

"Welcome Michael, please come in." Andre Swanstone was sitting on a grand chair sipping on a glass of brandy. "Is this your friend?"

Logan pushed Remy forward a little, she could feel the eyes of the men in the room looking her up and down. She was getting nervous now- the emotions hitting her were starting to get under her skin. Remy knew she had to pretend to be scared but it was starting to be less of an act. She felt such pity for the girls who actually went through this with no hope of rescue. "Ain't she a looker?" Logan asked the man.

"Yes, she is a beautiful girl," Andre got up and came over to where Remy was standing. Logan backed up- allowing him to inspect her. Andre's hand slid up Remy's leg making her jump back.

"Don't touch me." Remy cried and tried to back away. Logan stepped up and gripped her by the back of the neck placing her where she was before.

"Shut up and don't move slut," he squeezed hard enough to draw a cry of pain from Remy.

"Please let me go." Tears were starting to soak into her blindfold.

"Shhh sweetie, don't cry. It will be alight." Andre soothed her, his hand brushing her jaw line. Keeping his eyes on Remy he addressed Logan, "You had mentioned an interesting feature about this girl, her eyes right?"

"A what? Oh yeah- her devil eyes. You gotta dim the lights though- she screams like a fucking banshee when she sees bright lights."

"Well we wouldn't want to make the young lady uncomfortable. Hugh will you please dim the lights?" Andre waved to one of his men. He slowly untied the blindfold from Remy's head, leaning very close to her. "What is your name sweetheart?"

"I'm not your sweetheart." Remy told him firmly.

Andre chuckled. "Not yet."

"Her name is Lily." Logan told Andre.

"A beautiful name. How old are you?" He was just about done with the knot.

"I'll be twenty two soon. Please let me go. I wont tell anyone anything. I'll just go straight home and not breath a word to no one. I just want to go home to my daddy." Remy shut her eyes as the blindfold was lifted off her face.

"Now now, open your eyes dear, let me see." Remy looked up to Andre. He was a tall man, very strong looking and handsome. His skin was tanned and his dark grey eyes connected with Remy's red on black ones. He had a sickening smile spread across his lips. "You will certainly be a favorite."

Remy tried to wiggle away but Logan spanked her butt to make her stay put. "Didn't I tell you she was a beauty? Has to be worth at least fifty grand."

Andre cocked his head to the side, "I would say twenty thousand. Yes she's stunning but not as young as I would have hoped."

"She wont be twenty-two for another ten months." Logan's eyes never left Andre as he felt up Remy's butt and then her legs. Andre was eyeing Remy's chest but held back from touching them.

"Yes well her family connections is something that is an annoyance. I would hate to have her pictures posted everywhere. For that I could maybe go to thirty thousand."

"What? You mean that old man of hers? He wont being coming for her any time soon, I took care of that problem weeks ago."

"What? No!" Remy spun around to face Logan. "No!" Her face crumpled with grief and she sank to the floor, crying. Andre stepped closer to her and started to pet her head.

"Alright then, thirty-five thousand."

"Forty thousand or I walk." Logan haggled over Remy's life as if it was a shirt at a flea market.

Andre looked thoughtful for a moment, "Deal." The two mean shook on the bargain as Remy scanned the room once more, looking for security cameras, any place information would be stored, as well as a way out. She told Logan to blindfold her so they do not think she will be a threat, most of the time it was people assumptions that helped Remy compete her task.

"Well darling this is where we part ways." He bent down to her level and brushed some of her hair out of her face. "Been fun." Logan brought his lips down hard on Remy's. She was shocked to say the least but just sat still. It was a rough kiss- harsh and hungry at the same time.

"Hugh will have your money at the door."

"Please Mike, don't leave me here." Logan didn't look back as he left her with Andre.

"Now my dear, lets get to know each other a little better." Andre pulled Remy up and dragged her to a small love seat.

Logan pulled the beaten truck to the meeting point. He entered the motel room with his key and immediately faced with the rest of his team. "Alright its all up to the thief now, lets hope Chuck knows what he is doing, sending in a freaking freelance to do our job." Logan growled and began to pace.

"Of course he knows what he's doing, Logan. She will get the job done, she seems to be able to handle herself pretty well." Rogue smirked as the whole team thought back to the danger room session Remy and Logan had. "Besides he we still have audio and can go in there guns blazing when we need to."

"Rogue is right, my friend." Beast stated as he typed in the temporary computer lab he had set up. "Listen, she is fine."

Remy was sitting next to Andre in the love seat. Every time she tried to pull away from the man, his grip would tighten on her. She could feel is lust rolling off him in waves, it was so potent that Remy had a hard time breathing.

"Where are you from, Lily?" Andre was playing with her hair swirling the auburn locks around his fingers.

"Nawleans." Once more Gambit tried to pull away only this time Andre gripped her hair and pulled. She cried out in pain as he situated her again on the couch. He stared her down with a crazy look in his eye then smiled at her.

"You really are beautiful. I bet all the boys down in New Orleans loved you. Did you kiss many boys down there, sweetness?" Andre found Remy's lips with his fingers and started to brush them gently.

"No, I didn't. What are you going to do with me?" Andre's hand started to rub up and down her exposed legs, the night dress pulled up high enough that her lacy panties could be seen.

"Well baby, I run a business where men who love women with mutations, like yours, can come and meet them. You are very special, I almost don't want to share you." Andre's hand went higher up her exposed thigh.

"Stop. No. Stop!" Remy pushed Andre off her and she fell to the floor and scrambled away. "Don't touch me, please, please, don't hurt me."

"I wont hurt you, just come back up here and get nice and comfortable with me." There was a sharp edge to his voice, he was holding his temper back from the surface.

"Non." Remy pushed farther back until she ran into where she was standing earlier. She grabbed her blind fold and held it tightly in her hands. "Please misoure, my eyes, they hurt. I just want to go home."

Andre came up to her slowly, clenching and unclenching his fist. Remy turned her eyes to his direction only to be slapped hard across the face. Although Remy knew it was coming the force still split her lip and left her ears ringing. She tied to crawl away but Andre grabbed her by the hair and turned her face to his, "You better learn now, my dear, this is your new home and I am in charge." She made one more attempt to pull away only to be hit again, harder.

Remy was crying as Andre pulled her lips to his, he brushed his lips against hers and she pulled back. Remy sobbed as Andre pulled her close to him now and with bruising power pushed his lips to hers once more. His tongue made his way into her mouth. As one of his hands gripped her hair, the other started to brush the side of her breast. Remy turned her face away, breaking the kiss. Rage boiled over in Andre's eyes and he backhanded her, sending her sprawling across the floor.

Remy sobbed as one of Andre's men picked her up and roughly led her out of the room. "I'll see you in the morning, by then you better learn your place, or else I will teach you, either way is fun for me. Take her to room A." Andre commanded as Remy was pulled through the doors.

Remy was led to a stairwell that went down to narrow hall with multiple doors, she could only guess this is where the girls where kept. After shoving the girl into the room the men exited without another word. Remy threw herself onto the door and pounded with her bound fists. "You cant just leave me here! Let me out!" She cried out for a few more moments then finally stopped. Remy looked around the room carefully, her trained eye noticing the surveillance equipment. There was a small camera in two corners of the room, and as Remy entered the bathroom she saw one more small one. Creepers. After apprising the room and the angles she went to the corner underneath one of the cameras and leaned against the wall, her back to the opposite side camera.

'Jean?' Remy reached her mind out to Jean.

'Yes, Remy, what's happening?'

'They just left me in this room.' She easily slid off her bonds and pulled a bobby pin from her hair. Using the pin to pull the seam off the cloth that bound her wrists she pulled out a small flash drive. Then she reached under her night dress and pulled out a small kit, that opened to be a set of lock picks.

'Alright, how long do you think until you start?' Jean's voice echoed in her mind.

'I'm going to have to wait fifty-five minutes. From the information I gathered before I will have a chance to escape at 12:40am when the guard goes up to his room to take his break.'

'Sounds good, we will be waiting for your signal at the agreed upon time. Anything else we should know?'

'Non, talk to you soon.' Remy ended the conversation and sat on the bed waiting patiently. Soon the real work would start but for now she will concentrate on her plan and mentally perfect it.


	5. Chapter 5

Remy moved out into the main hall after erasing the footage of her escape. She pocketed the USB drive with all the copied information from Andre's prostitution ring. There was enough evidence on that device to lock him and all his clients up for years. These guys defiantly knew what they were doing, there were layers and layers of security protecting this mansion, but nothing that she hadn't been trained to handle before. Her brother taught her at a very young age how to enter a basic computer database and hacking into the system, erasing any footage of their existence. Remy's skills in technology had only progressed, making her one of the most skilled thieves in the world. Not only could she sneak into any building she was also able to manipulate the security system, only making her jobs easier.

Remy walked into the office she was brought into earlier, it was clear this was Andre's main room for business. Silently walking to the desk she reached for the phone to dial the police. After she did that, all she had to do was wait in her room for them to show up, give them the drive and then she would slip away from the authorities and meet up with the X-Men outside the gates, easy as pie. She picked up the receiver and dialed 9-1- ouch! Andre stood in the doorway with a dart gun; he turned the lights up as he entered the room, advancing on the young woman. Remy pulled the small dart from her shoulder as Andre walked over her.

"Put down the phone or else." He waved the gun at her. Slowly Remy placed the phone into its cradle, shit- had she pressed 1 once or twice? The room shifted slightly and Remy held onto the desk for support, the phone slid across the desk under her weight. She slumped across the front of the desk as the drug hit her system. 'Jean… Plan B… Now!' She sent the thought out as Andre pulled her up.

"What?" Remy looked at the furious man in front of her and tried to understand what he had just said. Andre shook Remy hard, and then lifted her to sit on the desk as her legs gave out underneath her.

"I said who did you call?" He raised his voice, as he became inpatient.

"Mon Pere…my dad." Remy lied easily as she tried to scoot away from the man, she leaned all the way back and pushed herself up with her heels to get across to the back of the desk, but she was stopped. Andre put the dart gun on the nearest chair to him, and then grabbed Remy by her knees, sliding her closer to him once more.

"Your father? Really? Why would you do something like that?" Remy pushed weakly against his chest to keep her distance.

"Because he can't be dead, I don't believe it. I just want to go home." He pulled her closer knocking her arms out of the way, bringing her against his chest.

"Oh sweetie, you are home now. Don't you understand, you are never leaving here." Andre pulled her again then slammed her down on the desk her head knocking on the surface. "Well since you don't understand I think its time I teach you that lesson." He pulled her legs apart by her knees then started to untie his robe.

"No! No!" Remy struggled which only made Andre fume; he slapped her across the face. She gasped and blinked to clear her vision, grabbing stapler then hitting him across the temple. The man stumbled back, allowing Remy to kick him back even farther. Her second leg swung up hard with precision and got him right in the nose, he fell to the floor with a thud. She rolled on top of the desk and grabbed the phone again, grabbed the receiver and dialed again, then threw it out of Andre's reach. Another pop sound echoed through the room as Remy felt the small prick of the dart enter her back.

"You bitch!" Andre grabbed the girl and swung her to face him, the drugs were coursing through Remy's body already, and she could barely sit up if the man wasn't gripping her so roughly. Andre raised his hand high over his head, about to bring it down with crushing force. Someone grabbed his fist before he could bring it down on Remy's face.

"I wouldn't do that sugar, she is a lady after all." Rogue's smooth voice startled the man as she picked him up easily by the wrist and tossed him across the room. Remy slumped without his arm to hold her she leaned to the side trying to steady herself. Her hand groped for the side of the desk but missed it; she tumbled off the desk her face rushing to the ground. Wolverine caught her before she made contact with the hardwood.

"Hey, Gambit, Cajun, ya there?" Logan patted her cheek lightly to wake her up; he looked into her eyes as they attempted to focus. Her pupils were so dilated it almost looked like she had solid black eyes, just a small red ring floating in the sea of darkness.

"My back…" Her hand moved to indicate the placement of the dart. Logan pulled her forward and pulled the dart out of her shoulder blade. He sniffed it, and then threw it to the side. "That's the second one." Remy explained. Jean approached Remy and Logan, looking over the young woman. "Jean, here." Remy handed the small drive to the red headed woman who nodded her thanks.

"She'll be fine, the dart was filled with anxiolytic, it's a tranquilizing drug, given time she will be normal again, but we do have the antidote in the medical lab if needed." Jean then stood and looked to Cyclops who was handcuffing some of Andre's workers. "The police."

"How long?" Scott asked as he shoved the man against the wall with the others.

"One minute."

"Alright. Storm, Rogue, and Iceman you three start letting the girls out, according to Gambit the rooms are located down that hall, she left the doorway open for us. Jean and I will fill in the police. Beast- can you take Wolverine and Gambit to the jet, make sure she's alright." Wolverine grunted in annoyance but picked up the young woman and cradled her in his arms.

"Wait." Rogue walked over and wrapped a throw blanket around Gambit. "There."

Cyclops and Jean went out first to meet the police; people were rushing around Logan and Remy as he waited for a moment to get her out of the house and into the jet. Hank helped a girl out from the house into the arms of the paramedics. The Beast then indicated to Wolverine to take Gambit to the jet. As they exited the house they were stopped by an older man with the police unit that just pulled up.

"You can bring the girl to that ambulance there, they don't have a patient yet." He directed Logan to a vehicle parked to the right.

"Actually she is with us." Hank ushered the young woman he was helping to the free EMTs as Logan made his way to the X-Jet.

"Wait! You can't just take her, she is a part of this investigation, we need her-"

"She is part of this team and will go home with us." Wolverine growled to the officer as he shifted the young girl in his arms. It was tense as Remy stirred from her rest.

"Its okay officer," Remy pulled herself up in Logan's arms. She looked at the man through hooded eyes, "I came with them, I go with them. Oui?"

The police officer looked into Remy's eyes for a moment then nodded to Logan and he shifted the girl in his arms comfortably. The cop followed their movement to the jet with his eyes; a look of concern laced his features. Beast finished with the young girl he helped and entered the medical bay of the plane, grabbing a few things for Remy. Logan cradled the girl in his arms and slowly put her down on a seat. Hank cracked an instant ice pack and handed it to Logan to place on the bruise forming on her face.

Hank looked over at the pair, "We will leave shortly, I suppose." He moved to the door, "I will get the rest of the team assembled as soon as they are finished." Remy's face felt heavy against Logan's hand, she was using him for her support.

"Hey, Cajun. You alright?" The Wolverine looked down at Remy's face, a nasty bruise on her cheek and her split lip already scabbed over.

"My face hurts." She stated simply. She nodded off for a few minutes and started to stir in the chair. Logan held her as she shook and pushed off him, was she dreaming from the drugs? "Get off, non." She gasped and flew forward from Logan's grip. "Non! Julian!"

"Its just me, Cajun. Remy…" Logan raised his brow as the girl fell back again into his arms and passed out, the drugs over taking her.

xXx

Everyone knew Remy was in a foul mood the next day; she had woken up late in the medical bay. She ripped the IV out of her arms and made her way into the kitchen. Taking a cup of hot coffee and her pack of cigarettes she made her way to the shaded area outside the lake. She lit one up and hissed in pain as the butt touch the split lip she had. After popping a few painkillers and smoking a few camels she felt better. Logan came out to her with a bottle of water, his cigar sticking out of his mouth.

"Hey Cajun, how you feeling?" He handed Remy the bottle of water and watched as she opened it and started to sip gingerly.

"Like I was beaten and drugged."

Logan chuckled under his breath. "Seems about right." They sat in comfortable silence, Logan puffing his cigar as Remy drank her water and leaned back on the grass. "The professor wants to see ya. He says its no rush, but would like to touch base with all the info you found."

"Yeah alright, I'm done anyways." Logan got up and offered his hand to Remy. She took it and was pulled up quickly by the short man. "Hey, Logan. Thanks, ya know, for the help last night." He grunted in response and walked to the mansion. She smiled for a moment at the feral mutant and then followed his lead to the professor.

"Yeah that's her." There was a moment of silence as the man listened to the voice over the phone. "She has the red eyes you talked about, I'll send you the photos right now." The man hung up the phone, then sent the pictures of Remy smoking by the tree.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Remy looked into the mirror with a smile, her bruises had finally subsided and she planned a girl's night for all the women in the mansion. Her deep chocolate brown hair hung in curls around her shoulders and bounced as brushed it out with her fingers. She double-checked her make up then went to her closet selecting her newest cocktail dress. Finishing up the last touches she slips on her heels and exited the room.

"Wow! Oh my God, Remy. You look…" Bobby stood stunned as Remy descended the stairs. She smiled kindly at the young man as she walked over to wait for the rest of the women.

"Thank you, Chere." Remy wore a black mini dress with a mesh back and side cutouts. She applied her last coat of lipstick as the other three ladies joined her in the main hall.

"You look beautiful, sugar." Rogue said as she approached Remy.

"Merci! You as well." Rogue wore a long sleeved lace dress with nylons and a pair of deep burgundy heels. Her typical wavy hair had been straightened and hung softly, white stripes framing her face.

"And just where do you two think you're going?" The gruff voice of Logan interrupted the two ladies.

"Not just us, Logan; Jean and Ororo are coming too." Rogue responded.

"What no boys allowed?"

"Nope." Jean said as she walked by Wolverine with Ororo. Scott leaned in the doorway and watched his wife walk to the door.

"Its okay Logan, I wasn't invited either." Scott smirked at the shorter man.

"Ha ha very funny. Where are you guys heading?"

"Actually, we don't know- Remy planned the night." Ororo stated as she put on a light jacket.

"And that's for me to know, and you to find out." Remy smiled at Logan sweetly. "And I think that's our ride pulling up now, lets go ladies." Remy ushered the women out to the limo but before she shut the front door she blew Logan a kiss. "Don't miss me too much, chere."

xXx

The four X-Women entered the restaurant with many eyes glued to their forms. Remy had brought them to an exquisite restaurant within a private resort. The limo had to drive for some time to reach the top of the hill where the large clubhouse was situated. Remy approached the hostess who quickly led the group to a table to be seated. The women looked around the massive dinning area in awe. The open dining hall was decorated with rich gold and black hues, with many elaborate hanging lights. The waiters placed the napkins on the ladies' laps and waited patiently for the drink orders.

"What is the chef's wine recommendation with dinner?" Remy asked the man to her left.

"That would be the 2008 Chardonnay Reserve from Napa County, miss." Remy looked at the ladies who nodded in approval.

"We'll have that, please." Remy smiled to the man who left to retrieve the bottle.

"Oh my God, Remy!" Rogue exclaimed in a hushed tone, "What is this place? It must cost an arm and a leg! I'm afraid to look at the menu and see the prices."

Remy smiled at her, "Relax Rogue I told you I would treat y'all tonight! Besides there is no menu, the chef prepares the dinner and its delivered to us, he makes all the decisions." Remy smirked again at her friends; she could tell they were still a little uneasy. "Honestly, I wanted to take you out. Y'all have been so nice to me; I just wanted to return the favor. And I have been dying to try this place, upstairs they have a casino- I plan on cleaning the house out." The others finally seemed to relax and chuckled at Remy's cockiness, then settled into an easy conversation as the waiter brought the first course to the table.

After the fouth course was served a smart looking man approached the table, "Ladies- how is everything this evening?" His smooth voice brought the attention of the women to his face. He was a large handsome man with dark hair slicked back. His finely tailored suit exuded money and power.

"It's been wonderful." Jean said first to the man smiling up at him. He smiled at her then Ororo but turned his gaze to Remy.

"My name is Sebastian Shaw, I am the owner of this establishment. I just wanted to make sure that a group of such beautiful women were being well taken care of." He hadn't removed his eyes from Remy's face for the whole statement. A less secure woman would have looked down, but Remy only smiled and kept his gaze.

"Your staff has been nothing short of fantastic, and my compliments to the chef on such a superb dinner." Remy flashed him a dazzling smile, he couldn't keep her eyes off of her.

"I will be sure to let him know the most beautiful woman in the room approves of his cooking."

Remy smiled coyly at Sebastian. "Merci."

"French? J'ai étudié le français pendant de nombreuses années." I studied French for many years.

"Moi aussie but I have a terrible accent. Actually, I am Cajun." Me too

"It is a pleasure to meet you Ms…" Shaw waited a moment for Remy to supply her name.

"LeBeau, My name is Remy LeBeau." The entrepreneur smiled and took the woman's hand kissing it.

"Remy. Charmed. Very much so, indeed. If you are available I would love to have you join me upstairs after your meal. I hope the casino would be as impressive as the food."

Remy looked at her friends and blushed slightly. "Merci but, it's a girl's night. Another time."

He smiled one last time at Remy then to the others, "Another time. Have a wonderful rest of your meal ladies, allow me to supply you with a bottle of our best Champaign," Shaw waved to one of the servers who immediately brought a bottle over to the table, "it pairs superbly with our dessert selection this evening. And please, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." The man walked away as Remy smiled watching him go.

"Oh my God, Remy! He is handsome!" Rogue leaned and whispered to the slightly stunned Remy.

"Indeed he is, Remy. Not to mention," Ororo sipped the bubbling wine, "he has good taste." Remy smiled and slid her credit card to the young man- easily blocking off any argument that may come up over the bill.

Jean inclined her head at Remy, "He sure does." Remy had the good sense to blush and hide her smile into a bite of whipped cream and strawberries.

"Ya sure about that Red? He was talking to the swamp rat." A gruff voice from behind Remy spoke up. The women turned to see Logan standing in the middle of the restaurant in a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt.

"What in God's name are you doing here?" Remy whispered looking to the hostess who was frantically waving over backup, obviously distressed at Logan's appearance.

"Thought that you gave an open invite to find out where you were going. You didn't really hide your tracks very well…"

"It wasn't!" Remy snapped as Mr. Shaw looked to the table with concern written on his face. "You need to leave."

"Alright, lets go- the professor wanted ya to come back anyways, got some developing information about Swanstone's case."

"Right now?" Remy asked a little too loud as Sebastian approached Logan.

"No he said it could wait till morning, I just wanted to piss ya off." Red on black eyes locked onto bright blue ones as the woman glared daggers at the man. The other women sat with mixed feelings, they were upset at Logan's thoughtless actions- however the exchanged between the two was becoming more and more entertaining. They also knew that Wolverine would try to pay back Remy for winning in their recent hand-to-hand challenge, they just thought he wouldn't drag them into it too.

"Can I help you, sir?" Shaw looked Logan up and down, judging the man's uncouth appearance.

"Naw, Bub, we were just leaving. Right ladies?" Logan pulled the chair out as Remy stood, smirking at her as she tried to contain her anger. His jaw clenched as Remy approached the entrepreneur and he seethed as Remy leaned close to the man, placing her hand on his arm, whispering to him her apology. Sly, red eyes looked to Logan knowing he could hear her words and she switched to French, blocking off any further eavesdropping.

The businessman closed his hand around Remy's smaller one, rubbing her knuckles as he spoke. Shaw smirked as his eyes traveled over Remy's face, down her body then to Logan. He chuckled along with Remy as she made a comment, most likely about the shorter man. They spent another moment chatting as the other women gathered their things, laughing quietly at the events enfolding. Logan's lip curled up in annoyance as Remy kissed the man on the cheek. "Merci Sebastian. J'ai un merveilleux moment." Thank you Sebastian. I have a marvelous time.

Remy signed the bill that was brought to her from the server smiling and handing the small black folder to Sebastian and she smiled one last time.

"Plaisir de vous rencontrer, Remy LeBeau." Pleased to meet you, Remy LeBeau He watched Remy walk past Logan, his eyes following her hips as she strutted to the entrance. Shaw eventually looked away from Remy's backside and into the angry eyes of the wild looking man. "Lets hope you are a better chauffer than you are a dresser." With that Sebastian turned on his heel to climb the stairs to his casino. Logan walked towards the entrance peeved that the glorified busboy got the last word. As he stormed through the exit, he got looks from multiple finely dressed people. Ignoring them as he approached the limo taking the X-Women back home. Remy turned from the open door to him, placing her hand on his chest.

"Ya think that was funny, huh?" Remy purred at the man in front of her.

"Yeah." Logan scoffed at Remy's overly confident face.

"Well, lets just remember something." Remy approached him getting close to his face to challenge the man, showing her bravado. "Pay back is a bitch." Remy stepped into the vehicle. Logan held the door for her, giving her a mock bow as he played driver for the group.

"I'd like to see you try, Gambit." They shared one more fake smile before he closed the door. He sauntered back to his bike, pleased at his victory. He felt in his pocket for the keys, then his other pocket. He searched his jacket pockets and came up empty handed even his wallet was missing. He turned to the jingling sound of keys as Remy stood through the sunroof of the limo- the key ring dangling on her finger.

"That wasn't even me trying." She smiled sweetly and threw the keys as hard as she could down the side hill into the shrubbery. Laughing Remy slid back into the car as the driver pulled away, leaving the small Canadian to search the grounds for his motorcycle keys.

Shaw looked out from the window at the beautiful young woman's antics. Remy LeBeau. Something about her made Shaw take notice of her, and something told him it wasn't just her eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the black envelope she had signed her bill in earlier. Inside, on the receipt, along side a hefty tip was a 10 digit phone number scribbled down. Shaw smirked and poured himself a glass of scotch. Picking up his phone he called a trusted contact.

"Hello. It's Shaw. I want all the information you can find on LeBeau, Remy LeBeau."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Remy sighed as she looked through the fridge, nothing looked good. A truly happy Southern girl could not live off of Yankee food alone. She needed something spicy, and creamy and deep-fried. Remy checked the chore chart that hung near the calendar, Rogue's turn to cook. The young woman gulped, Rogue was quickly turning into one of her friends but that girl couldn't cook herself out of a paper bag.

Speak of the devil, "Hey Sugar, what are you up to?" Rogue walked in wearing a bathing suit, obviously working on her tan this lovely summer day.

"Well, Chere, I was thinking if you take my dish duty tonight I would take your cooking duty. I have a craving for something fried."

"Sure." Rogue took out a bottle of water and sipped it. "You don't think there is anything wrong with my cookin' do ya?"

"Non! I mean non, chere. Corse not. Non." Remy smiled at Rogue then quickly left the kitchen. Phew got out of that one, Remy rounded the corner taking the stairs two at a time to her room. She gathered her items then was ready to leave the mansion grounds.

"Where are you headed to Remy?" The professor called as Remy walked past his office. Remy halted then came back, entering the man's study.

"To the store. I am going make dinner tonight. Rogue and I swapped chores."

"Oh wonderful! I mean- that's nice to hear." They shared a knowing smile. "Before you go can I ask you a quick question?" Remy inclined her head, taking a few more steps into the room, adding onto the privacy of the conversation.

"I was wondering how our security system has improved over the last month or so you have been here. How has that developed?"

"Well you are in a lot better shape than when we started. The biggest focus I had were the files being able to be hacked. I am not the most proficient when it comes to computer security- however I am diligent. That being said I have put the most secure computer system to protect the data, with multiple trips and security alerts, and I will keep that updated as newer and better models are released."

"Excellent. And the security around the mansion is still good…"

The professor was cut off by a scoff. He looked at the young woman with shock. "Its good, oui, but its nothing to an advanced thief or- uh- an assassin." Remy's mouth had carried away from her as she stumbled over the hated word.

"Do you think that we will have a problem, with a break in?" The professor asked as if he knew- how could he possibly know? Remy took a deep breath in and looked at the man.

"Well… I hope not, however there is a never-ending possibility that…" she paused then smiled at Xavier. "How did you find out?"

"Oh I have my ways. How long has he been pursuing you?" Xavier smiled knowingly at her question but became serious once more. Remy walked to the door and shut it quietly, keeping this topic as closed off as possible.

"Over eight months now- man cannot take a hint, oui?" She smiled at her own joke but the professor could see the running had taken a toll on her.

"Is there nothing you can do to stop him?"

"I have tried. He is obsessed… with power, I think. I guess I hurt his pride too, but the power that comes with marrying me is what he wants." Remy felt instantly guilty, she hated being caught hiding the truth and she hated being Catholic.

"I just want all of the people who reside here to be safe." Remy nodded to the man in understanding. How could anyone want a wanted criminal with a psycho ex hot on her trail holding herself up in a school with mutants and children?

"I will…" Remy started lamely only to be cut off by the man in the chair.

"You will double or triple our security. I want this to be the most secure place in New York, spare no expense."

Remy had not expected that. "You want me to stay? Still? I can leave. You don't have to…"

"Nonsense. You stay. Why would I ask you to leave?" Remy was so grateful to the man she almost threw her arms around him. Not since her own papa had anyone been so nice to her. She nodded and smiled in thanks to the man.

"Oui. Merci." Remy backed away to exit the office.

"Oh and Remy?" She looked up from the door, "Try not to make anything too spicy this time. Bobby couldn't handle the heat." They laughed as she left the office.

xXx

Remy had just finished loading the groceries into her car when she cursed. She forgot to pick up a pack of cigarettes. She decided to hit a gas station instead of heading back into the crowded line at the grocery store. Getting into her car she drove a few miles down the road toward the mansion. "I know I saw one…ah!" She pulled slowly into the station. Parking she grabbed her wallet and her keys and headed into the store. She hadn't had a cigarette in over a day and she was feigning for her vice.

She walked around the side of the gas station, packing her Camels as she did so. Pulling one out she used her powers to lite the tip, inhaling deeply as she savored the feeling in her lungs then blew it out slowly. She relaxed in the shade of the building for a few minutes, reveling in the feeling of nicotine in her system.

"Hey can I bum one?" A young man approached her from a parked van.

"Sure." She leaned forward extending her pack to the young man. He smiled and looked into her eyes then paused.

"Aw Fuck!" He jumped back from her quickly with a shout. Remy stood perplexed for at his actions. "Guys!" From the van several man jumped out to their friend's calls. She watched with apprehension as the group of five approached her. She inhaled her cigarette once more, waste not want not.

"Can I help y'all?" Remy asked politely. "It's a fresh pack- plenty to go around."

"Shut it freak."

"Whoa! Totally uncalled for." She brought her cigarette to her lips once more, mentally calculating her odds. There were five of them, human, probably experienced at fighting- seemed unfair.

"We are with the Friends of Humanity!" The man in the middle indicated his shirt. A large FOH was printed on the front.

"Oh… Is it the cigg? Look I am 10 feet away from the entrance- that's law. If it really bothers you that bad I can put it out. Didn't realize y'all were so passionate about tobacco laws. "

"Its you, mutant, that bothers us." The man approached her his fists pulled up. Remy cursed softly then flicked her cigarette at him. It landed on his chest with a boom; the force of the small explosion caused him to fall off his feet. She knew she couldn't charge another object, not with the gas pumps near her, but maybe it would spook the rest to leaving.

They stood in shock as their leader coughed and rolled onto his side. "Get her!" he gasped out. The next one came at Remy with less discretion than the first guy. He swung at her face, but kept missing as Remy side stepped him finally she grabbed his arm and brought her other palm against his elbow. The force she put into the hit cause it to snap in the other direction.

Next one got a heel to the nose then a fist into the belly- he doubled over in pain as she kicked him into the next advancing man. They both fell painfully onto the concrete, giving Remy the chance to take down the last one. She grabbed his arm-twisting it, causing the man to drop the knife he pulled out.

"That's not very fair is it?" She grabbed the knife she used the hilt to knock the man out dropping him in a giant heap on the ground. There was one left standing without any type of severe injury. He looked at her with shock and fear, clearly torn between fighting and running. "Alright so the way I see it is you can run inside call 911 and get your friends help or I can kick your ass too and we will see if any member of humanity wants to help your sorry butts." He held Remy's gaze, red on black eyes boring into the man, then he ran into the gas station as fast as possible. Shaking her head Remy picked up her pack of cigarettes and walked toward her car. On the way to her vehicle she slashed the tires of the van then whipped her prints off the knife as she threw it into the trash.

Remy pulled up to the mansion as sirens were blared in the far distance. Scott stood outside and watched the car approach.

"Hey Scott, you mind helping me bring in the groceries?" Remy's sweet and slow southern drawl made Scott shift his focus to her.

"Sure. Do you know what all the fuss is about? Professor picked up on a paramedic's thoughts, apparently there was a gang fight or something."

"Oh, yeah just some thugs. Friends of Humanity I think…" Remy picked up a bag from the trunk of the car as Scott stood at the top of the stoop. "They will be fine." The leader of the X-men was shocked at Remy's confession.

"Wait, did you…"

"Well it was just five of them and they attacked me outside the gas station. No big deal- just had to teach them a little lesson on how to treat a lady." Remy went up the steps, a paper bag held in each arm. She made eye contact with the man and smiled. "Speaking of which- ain't you going to open the door for me?" Cyclopes jolted and opened the front door for the young woman. "Merci- I hope you like sweet potatoes, I'm making a mash to go along with the fried chicken."

"Sounds great." Scott replied weakly as he went to help with the remainder of the groceries.


End file.
